1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a novel aircraft cockpit management systems, and more particularly to the specifics of the emergency procedures, normal aircraft operating procedures, aircraft operating systems monitoring and control, flight management systems, in single and multi-engine small and large aircraft utilizing a voice recognition system.
The present invention relates to novel voice activated cockpit management systems and more specifically it relates to a novel voice activated cockpit management system for single and multi-engine aircraft providing a novel Next-Gen voice activated cockpit management system for emergency procedures, normal procedures, operating systems monitoring and control, enabling unique and specific audio in/out procedure steps through novel voice enabled commands and wireless Bluetooth connection and communication software and hardware.
2. Description of the Related Art
Voice Recognition systems as alternative for man-machine-interfaces is becoming more and widely used. However in the flight environment conditions they have found limited use due to the unique challenges presented by elevated noise levels, unique grammar rules, unique vocabulary, and hardware limitations, all associated with the cockpit environment. Meanwhile, command recognitions or selections from address book entries in mobile devices, such us mobile phones, are standard functions. In automobiles speech recognition systems are applied to record, e.g. starting endpoint and end point in a navigation system.
Voice Recognition algorithms rely upon grammar and semantics to determine the best possible text match(es) to the uttered phrase(s). Conventionally they are based on Hidden-Markov-models, which enable recognition but require high computing time. Since embedded systems are often employed as computing entities, having limited computing and storing resources has added to the limitation of applications of the voice recognition to the cockpit environment to date, and engendered simplified speech recognition. Constraints in the search space and saving of the resources is coming along with less reliable speech recognition and/or less comfortable handling for the user in addition to the specific limitations imposed by the cockpit environment.
The aircraft operating environment is very unique in the grammar rules that are followed and the vocabulary that is used. The grammar suite is rather extensive including “words” that represent unusual collections of characters (e.g. intersection or fix names). Same goes for the vocabulary with specific code “words” that engender particular sequences of actions in the cockpit that are known only to professionally trained pilots and not available through colloquial language. Elongation of the expression to be recognized within colloquial language even without the complexity of the pilotage grammar and vocabulary will lead to extremely high requirements in memory and computing power. These factors make it difficult to develop a comprehensive grammar and vocabulary set for use on an aircraft, and this has represented one of several significant challenges to bringing Voice Recognition to the cockpit. The elevated noise environment in flight conditions can increase in the cockpit up to 6-7 times the general room noise level found on the ground, which adds to the complexity of the task since specialized hardware and additional technology that engender voice recognition and is required.
Others have attempted to use dynamic grammar for enhancing voice recognition systems. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,341, entitled “Speech Recognition System and Method,” issued to H. F. Raud et al, discloses a speech recognition system having multiple recognition vocabularies, and a method of selecting an optimal working vocabulary used by the system. Each vocabulary is particularly suited for recognizing speech in a particular language, or with a particular accent or dialect. The system prompts a speaker for an initial spoken response; receives the initial spoken response; and, compares the response to each of a set of possible responses in an initial speech recognition vocabulary to determine a response best matched in the initial vocabulary. A working speech recognition vocabulary is selected from a plurality of speech recognition vocabularies, based on the best matched response.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,165, entitled “Method and Apparatus For Recognizing From Here To Here Voice Command Structures in a Finite Grammar Speech Recognition System,” issued to J. R. Lewis et al, discloses a method and system that uses a finite state command grammar coordinated with application scripting to recognize voice command structures for performing an event from an initial location to a new location. The method involves a series of steps, including: recognizing an enabling voice command specifying the event to be performed from the initial location; determining a functional expression for the enabling voice command defined by one or more actions and objects; storing the action and object in a memory location; receiving input specifying the new location; recognizing an activating voice command for performing the event up to the new location; retrieving the stored action and object from the memory location; and performing the event from the initial location to the new location according to the retrieved action and object. Preferably, the enabling-activating command is phrased as “from here . . . to here”. The user specifies the new location with voice commands issued subsequent to the enabling command. To reduce the occurrence of unintended events, these voice commands are counted so that if they exceed a predetermined limit, the action and object content is cleared from memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,010,490, entitled “Method, System, and Apparatus for Limiting Available Selections in a Speech Recognition System,” issued to L. A. Brocious et al, discloses a method and system for completing user input in a speech recognition system. The method can include a series of steps which can include receiving a user input. The user input can specify an attribute of a selection. The method can include comparing the user input with a set of selections in the speech recognition system. Also, the method can include limiting the set of selections to an available set of selections which can correspond to the received user input. The step of matching a received user spoken utterance with the selection in the available set of selections also can be included.
Generally, any variation in the grammar implemented in a voice recognition system is based upon previous commands or states computed within the voice recognition system. Such types of systems would have limited applicability in an avionics environment because the grammar in cockpit management systems is very fragmented for specific cockpit procedural functions.
Current voice recognition parameters call for voice command of these cockpit procedural functions by means of speaking specific words to engender display of audio procedures in the listening device which equate to the intended procedure available to this date in operational cockpits in hard copy or visual display. A key-to-recognize (type-procedure) “word” would require the crew to speak the utterance associated with a specific operational procedure.